A recent article published in the December 2011 peer reviewed International Journal of Health Services (IJHS) examines the excess death rate reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) during the fourteen weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns.

The death rates reported from 122 USA cities with populations over 100,000 during the 14 weeks after Fukushima exceeded the deaths in 2010 during the same time period. The authors of the report point to this excess death data as a red flag to motivate further study. They have not established a direct link to excess deaths and Fukushima.

However, toxicologist Janette Sherman, MD, who co-authored the report did point out that most excess deaths were among those under age one. They are the most susceptible to radioactive isotopes. She explains that fetuses and newborns have cells that are multiplying rapidly without normal detox enzymes. Their immune systems are not yet developed. She also said that increased pneumonia related deaths among older people may bring the excess death number to 18,000.

Dr. Sherman has been involved with radioactive toxicology for decades. She was a contributing editor for Chernobyl – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment and author of Chemical Exposure and Disease and Life’s Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer.

Epidemiologist Joseph Mangano, MPH MBA also co-authored the peer reviewed report published in the December 2011 IJHS. MPH stands for Master of Public Health. Mr. Mangano has directed is the founder and director of the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP).

The RPHP has also created the “Tooth Fairy Project”, which asks for parents to donate a baby tooth that has recently fallen away for strontium 90 analysis. Strontium 90 makes its way into bone matter. This type of approach is necessary because, according to both authors, government agencies aren’t doing their jobs.

Shortly after the Fukushima meltdowns, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported high readings, hundreds of times beyond normal, of cesium 137, strontium 90, and iodine 137 radioactive isotopes in water supplies and milk in the United States. Though iodine isotopes have relatively short half-lives, the other two isotopes hang around much longer.

Yet, the media reported that the EPA claimed those readings were nothing to worry about. The EPA then changed their weekly reading to quarterly readings. It seems the standard for nothing to worry about is if you don’t drop dead in a week, everything’s fine. Both authors of this latest report, the first of its kind to be published in a peer reviewed journal, point to long term studies throughout the world.

Chenobyl’s impact affected the long term health and reproduction rate of several species from bacteria to birds to humans. Increased still births, increased cancer rates, and decreased general health and intelligence were observed among many as far away from Chernobyl as Scandinavia. Yet the real effects were minimized or unpublished until recently.

When nuclear reactor plants closed down or families moved away from them throughout the world, family health conditions improved. Military personnel involved with the Nevada atomic bomb tests experienced increased cancer rates. Nuclear weapons factory workers are even receiving compensation from work related health problems.

Joseph Mangano created the RPHP to provide scientific data demonstrating why the human race should reconsider using nuclear power and not create new reactor plants while shutting down old ones.

This requires a privately funded group since the nuclear, military industrial complex, atomic energy commissions, and government agencies have had their way protecting the nuclear power industries regardless of human endangerment.